How should Britain respond to the beheading of James Foley?

The horrific video features the victim identified as James Foley and a jihadist with what appears to be a British accent. (Picture: Reuters Tv/Reuters)

Journalist James Foley’s brutal and grim beheading at the hands of a man said to have a British accent, should leave all of us – including the prime minister – aghast with horror.

For while this act of barbarous butchery might have taken place in the lawless territory controlled by the shady Islamic State organisation, it is thought it may have been carried out by someone who grew up in the same country you and I did.

The ‘traces of a London accent’ identified by the UK government are now being analysed by experts to assess if the jihadist responsible for Foley’s death came from Britain.

Some things are too big for No. 10 to ignore. David Cameron has returned from his holiday to Downing Street to address these latest chilling developments. His office has put out a statement saying simply that ‘if true, the brutal murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved’.

As foreign secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed this morning, the video has all the hallmarks of being genuine.

So that leaves us contemplating another horrific, politically-motivated murder perpetrated by a Brit. It follows the unspeakable violence of Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder at the hands of radicalised extremists in Woolwich last year.

After that death, Cameron said:

We will not be cowed by terror, and terrorists who seek to divide us will only make us stronger and more united in our resolve to defeat them.

But now the radicalisation is happening again – and the government needs to do more than just not be cowed.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq, in particular, is often cited as a motivation by terrorists. And while the Islamic Caliphate has moved on from that conflict and now presents its own threat, ministers will feel the legacy of that conflict weighing on them as they judge what response Britain should take.

And this is the biggest dilemma of all for Cameron. How much can Britain do to protect itself against the emerging threat from the Islamists now controlling much of Syria and Iraq?

Earlier this week the prime minister made clear he wouldn’t be sending British troops back into Iraq once more.

That was an easy call to make. The real question is about whether Britain should provide or support other forms of military action.

Seen in the light of James Foley’s death, that dilemma is only going to have been made even more acute.

David Cameron – who is now back in Downing Street because of the crisis – has some serious thinking to do. (Picture: AP Photo/Daniel Leal-Olivas, Pool)

Metro Blogs is a place for opinions. These opinions belong to the author and are not necessarily shared by Metro.